Here’s the video for “Grizzly Man” off of The Professional Leisure Tour EP. Don’t let Kidz In The Hall get next to your chick while out on tour!

“I’m sleepin at your girl house,
Twenty city tour, sleepin on your girl couch…
Hate to break it to you, but I love your woman,
And when I leave here, I’mma get another woman.”

If you still haven’t heard the group’s Land of Make Believe album, check out our review!

WHO HAS THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE ALBUM?

Kidz In the Hall link up with Chip Tha Ripper and Donnis for this stand out track off their Land of Make Believe album.

“They bankin on the young boy got all of they interest/ Only fuckin with fam, yea nigga incest.” — Donnis

Check out our review of the whole project here.

The sample free-production put forth by Double O, and personal lyrics let loose by Naledge, make every track interesting.

This marks the third album release from the Penn grads, who’ve been creating a type of “paid dues” feel around themselves, releasing a number of underappreciated raps since 2006.

The group addresses their feelings of being underappreciated in the album’s “Introlude.”

Kidz In The Hall – “Introlude”

I like how Court Dunn brought the album’s intro to life by providing a dueling glance of the group’s present and future states.  Watching the video is just as entertaining as listening to the song!

The last few lines of “Introlude” really grab my attention:

“I’m not from the street, but I’m far from the beach,
It ain’t what you grab, its how far you reach,
Tryin to sit in jets, like the beauty of the week,
Tryin to get free is the duty of my speech,
Preach,
Church on the move, tabernacle to the congregation,
Fuck you if you even think of hatin’,
Best in Chicago, that ain’t worth debating,
Nigga I’m the best in the nation.”

Although there’s no denying his talent, I don’t agree with Naledge’s final line.  Having said that, the boastful comment did get me thinking, and while not the best, Kidz In The Hall are definitely one of the more important groups in hip hop.  They’re currently making major moves with an independent hip hop label (Duck Down Records) during a time when many artists are thinking about abandoning the traditional major label system.  Emerging artists should pay attention to the group’s moves!

Getting back to the music, the first leak off Land of Make Believe was the impressive “Flickin’,” which heightened my anticipation for the album back in August.  Although it was received well, Kidz In The Hall chose “Jukebox” over “Flickin’” to be the album’s lead single:

Kidz In The Hall – “Jukebox”

I thought Kidz In The Hall made a mistake in going with “Jukebox” over “Flickin’,” until I saw the crowd’s positive reaction to the song being performed live at two different concerts.  I now really enjoy listening to “Jukebox,” and watching its hilarious video where the guys hit on every girl they see!

“Take Over The World” is another track that’s starting to win over fans at the group’s live shows.

Kidz In The Hall – “Take Over The World”

Colin Munroe provides the catchy hook on “Take Over The World,” and thanks to Double O’s epic-sounding beat and Naledge’s motivational lyrics, can easily serve as any sport team’s pump-up music.

On this track, Naledge spits one of my favorite lines off the album with, “Dreams like women, If you only sleep with ‘em/ nothing ever comes from ‘em/ But I bet you still love ‘em.” It’s nothing too deep, but subtle thought-provoking quotes are sprinkled throughout the album.

After many listens, I now stray away from the obvious singles and go straight to the smooth “Will II Win,” and the hookless “I Am” when starting up my Zune.  Two other tracks that caught my ear are “Out to Lunch,” featuring The Kid Daytona, with it’s traditional hip hop feel, and the high energy “Fresh Academy,” featuring Chip Tha Ripper and Donnis.

Versatility is a major strong point of the album, and it really shines through on the wide range of beats produced by Double O.  This range can best be felt in tracks such as the upbeat “Bougie Girls” and the fast paced, dance record, “Running.”  The latter reminded me of Laws and his 4:57 mixtape.  I’d love to hear Kidz In The Hall link up with the southern emcee for a track in the future!

Interested in hearing more?  Buy Land of Make Believe here.

The Kidz In The Hall dropped their Professional Leisure Tour FreEP today via LRG.  In case you missed it, check out our interview with the group as they discuss the 13 track freEP.  The upcoming album, Land of Make Believe, is due out this March.

Kidz In The Hall brought a couple ladies on stage last night to help them perform their latest single, “Jukebox.”  Naledge and Double O turn every performance into a party.

By 2006, they had released their debut album, School Was My Hustle, through Rawkus Records, and received numerous co-signs from within the industry, including Just Blaze.

The group reached a great deal of commercial success with their sophomore album, The In Crowd, that was released through Duck Down Record in 2007.

In case you are unfamiliar with the group’s work, check out the live performance of their biggest hit to date, “Drivin Down the Block.”

The Kidz In The Hall got the crowd hyped, with their live performance which included throwing water on fans, as well as themselves.  If you watch the video, keep an eye out for the dude next to me who brought an umbrella, ha!

After their set, HipHopAtLunch.com sat down with Kidz In The Hall to talk about the Land of Make Believe, the current state of hip hop, and what they’re doing outside of music for fun.

It’s pretty hilarious imagining Naledge beating up all the emo and fashion rappers of today, back in high school!

The group makes a good point about the rise in demand for more lyrical and conceptual albums such as the ones put forth by Raekwon and Skyzoo.  If this trend continues, the Land of Make Believe should be well received.

Another funny part of the interview was hearing Nadlege explain how he uses his free time to avoid the IRS, spend show money on expensive glasses, and sip champagne out of straws!

Despite not playing the most recent crowd favorite, “Flickin’,” Kidz In the Hall gave us a performance of their latest single, “Jukebox.”

I like that track even more after seeing it live.

Hip hop artists could benefit from Twitter if they engaged with fans in the same fashion as Naledge and Double O.  If you tweet at Kidz In The Hall, they will almost always hit you back as they have a great grasp on how to leverage social media.

Hear the group speak on Twitter in their own words:

I wish all artists used Twitter as well as them!

The group’s third studio album, Land of Make Believe, has been pushed back to February.  In the mean time, keep an eye out for Naledge’s Reality Bites and the group’s The Professional Leisure Tour EP, which will be backed by LRG and contain all original records.

Be sure to catch Kidz In The Hall on tour with Warren G and U-N-I when they come to your city, tour dates here.

“Food For Thought” is classic Joell Ortiz at its best, with quick witted lyrics and a deep meaning woven into the song.  On this track, Joell likens hip hop to a woman whom he has fallen in love with.  He starts off reminiscing about being a kid and finding out who hip hop was back in 1992, by listening to neighborhood ciphers and trying to emulate what he heard.  This determination to get into the game at a young age developed into a skillful craft that was quickly noticed by the neighborhood guys and helped Joell generate a buzz around being nice with words.

On the second verse, Joell talks about sharpening his pick up lines and recording them to make sure he delivered them just right. (He is still speaking as if Hip Hop is a beautiful woman which he would like to get to know).  He then gets deep with the line, “through trying to find you it was myself that I would find, so I told you who I was in the chronicles I would design.” Joell points out that by trying to become a true hip hop lyricist, one has to really get to know themselves in and out.  Joell gets back to his life story speaking on his label deals and how Nas getting the world to believe that hip hop was dead affected his life.

On the final verse, Joell Ortiz does a great job of summing up today’s hip hop sub-genres based on style and sound.  He spits:

“No one’s actually met you, they just write and hope you hear it,
and hope that your attracted to the person in their lyrics,
some people try to bag you by telling you what they have, hoping your materialistic and like to brag,
Others try to scoop you by betraying that they tough, praying that you’re a good girl and you like ‘em rough,
the newest sensation is trying to get you through a dance, so if you bump heads at a party you’ll give ‘em an extra glance,
Then there’s a couple people like I, That let you know exactly who they are why not,
but not a souls met you face to face, so with every word they write is where they place their faith.”

Joell Ortiz does not diss any of these sub-genres, but tells it how it is.  He uses this song to spit true hip hop, in an effort to find himself and give respect to the craft that he fell in love with as a young kid in Brooklyn.

Also, in addition to the song being great, the video capitalizes on the current Twitter hype within the hip hop community by keeping the verses under 140 characters, using emoticons & abbreviations, and by using @Reply’s to speak to the other members of Joell’s SlaughterHouse group!  When the song ends, they even throw up some #FollowFriday shout outs!

Kidz In The Hall – Flickin’

With a sound that is far from what you would expect to hear on a new hip hop track, the Kidz in The Hall single for their upcoming album Land of Make Believe is getting added to play lists nationwide!  The song reminds me of the Basement Jaxx’s breakthrough track “Where’s your head at,” because both records share a bunch of the same sounds.

This unique sound featured on “Flickin’, “  is nothing new to the hip hop duo (Naledge and Double-O) that formed after meeting at a University of Pennsylvania talent show.  However, this song’s smooth, chill feel matched with its unique sound will definitely create a bunch of cross over appeal with fans of other genres of music.

The lyrics on this track are nothing special, yet do a good job of putting the track in the laid back, stunt, swag category by touching on clothes, cars, glasses, fashion, etc.  The hook of the song is somewhat hypnotizing, and with the line “Every time you sleep at night, that’s what I be living like,” sums up the song’s imaginative aspect.

Kidz in The Hall did a great job of setting the tone for their Land of Make Believe album with this single!

Lil Boosie – Better Believe It

Even though the video could have been a bit better (Boosie simply chillin in jail until Webbie picks him up?), this track goes hard.   The Baton Rouge rapper brings the same amount of intensity to this track as he has with all of his club bangers of the past few years.  You can not ignore the fact that Lil Boosie has consistently gotten people hyped in the club year after year.

Looking at the lyrics, it is Lil Boosie who puts forth the best verse on “Better Believe It.”  He wastes no time, starting off the song by stating:

“Ladies and gentlemen its Boosie Boo,
King of Louisiana I’ve been the truth,
If you don’t know better ask somebody,
I am the show and the after party,
I’m stacking dough, aint got to sell dope no more.”

That is not to say that Young Jeezy and Webbie don’t put forth good efforts, but they simply do not do anything out of the ordinary on the track to outshine Boosie.  Jeezy kept his lyrics about the trap and Webbie touched on his quick rise to fame spitting, “It’s crazy aint it, hard to explain it, I done got famous, all I did was bring it.”

All in all, this is another banger to add to Lil Boosie’s growing collection. ( A collection that includes Zoom, Wipe Me Down, and Independent.)

Pac Div – The Mayor

“The Mayor” is the lead single off of Pac Division’s latest mixtape Church League Champions, which was well received by hip hop critics everywhere.  These positive reviews coupled with the group’s long deserved record deal, are creating a tremendous amount of  buzz around the LA rap group that has been kickin their rhymes for quite awhile now.

The video to this song compliments its fun playful theme of deciding one day to run for mayor.  The video also does a great job of portraying the carefree LA lifestyle. (I really want to move to LA after watching this video!)

Looking at the song’s lyrics, we see that the group decided to simply have fun with this track and not spit anything of deep importance.  All three members of the group simply rap about LA, their lifestyle, clothing, cars, and women. (Not bad subjects, but nothing that’s quotable!)

The hook does a good job of summing up the song’s feel:

“Just another day out in sunny L.A.,
It’s dealers in the streets and coppers don’t play,
Got my 501 Jeans, my crew neck sweater, saggin in my pants cause I don’t know better,
In any weather, we stay the fliest,
Killers on my side In case you suckers wanna try us,
Numbers in my phone, Im so player,
Feelin so good, I think I might run for mayor.”